Keep beefing up Border Patrol? Some Arizona ranchers say no

TIM JOHNSON mcclatchydc.com TUCSON, ARIZ. — While some members of Congress remain gung-ho about adding still more agents to the Border Patrol, ranchers who work along the border aren’t so sure that’s what’s needed. Several ranchers say there are plenty of Border Patrol agents – even too many – but they’re deployed in the wrong places, usually away from the border. Most Border Patrol agents staff checkpoints many miles inland. “We don’t need more Border Patrol agents. We just need to put them on the international boundary,” said rancher John Ladd, whose family has been on his 14,000-acre spread near Naco in southeast Arizona for 118 years. Ladd is among a handful of established ranchers who are unhappy with how Border Patrol vehicles zoom across their ranches, ripping up roads and tearing down fences, but rarely staying at the border itself. They say legislators in Washington keep funding more agents and better technology _ such as abundant ground sensors and infrared cameras _ but fail to put the agents at the border to catch those coming across. to read more: mcclatchydc.com